As in previous arrests in the school, Israeli forces drove to the back of the school and entered through a hole in the fence by the playground. They arrested Jibril Awar in his classroom. Today’s arrest of Jibril Awar is the third in two weeks.

Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the accountability program director for Defence For Children International - Palestine (DCI), told the Palestine Monitor that Israeli forces are trying to be more strict with Palestinian children. “Palestinian children in East Jerusalem are targeted,” he said, “and we believe this is discriminatory, despite the area being under Israel’s civil system.”

For children in conflict with Israeli law, the Youth Law provides safeguards for children including the use of arrest as a last resort, advance notice before questioning, minimal use of restraints, and the presence of a legal guardian during questioning.

Ayed Abu Eqtaish told Palestine Monitor that arrested children are routinely denied having a family member present during interrogation, that children are arrested in night raids, and they are interrogated to extract confessions.

“[Israeli forces] are trying to make it like the military legal system in the West Bank, and they have recently been imposing administrative detention orders on kids from East Jerusalem.” he said. This means that minors have been imprisoned for prolonged periods without charge or trial, and their detentions can be renewed indefinitely.

Examples of this include the cases of Fadi Hasan Abassi, 17, and Mohammad Saleh Ghaith, 17, from Silwan, who in October received six month and three month detentions respectively, accused of throwing stones at Israeli police vehicles, which they both denied.

According to DCI, the youths were not properly informed of their right to remain silent, and were notwith a lawyer or their guardians during their respective interrogations. These are the first cases of administrative detentions of minors in East Jerusalem in 15 years, according to DCI’s documentation dating back to 2000.

According to The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, out of a total of 400 minors currently being held in Israeli jails, eleven minors are under administrative detention in Israel. In addition, around 700 children have been detained since the beginning of October, many of whom were released under specific conditions including bail or house arrest, the society said.